Biden wipes away another $11b in student debt

US President Joe Biden has cancelled $US7.4 billion ($11.4 billion) in student loan debt as he tries to shore up support with young voters who are disproportionately affected by soaring education costs, but who may be drifting away over his policy on Israel and the war in the Gaza Strip.

The latest round of relief is part of a strategy by the White House to take smaller, targeted actions for certain subsets of borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down a far more ambitious plan to wipe out $US400 billion in debt last year.

Biden said this week that he would make another attempt at large-scale debt forgiveness for about 30 million people, despite Republican opposition and legal challenges. But in the meantime, he has been chipping away at student debt by fixing and streamlining existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years.

Saturday’s announcement was the latest such move, affecting about 277,000 people. White House officials said those borrowers would be notified by email.

More than 200,000 of those who qualified had borrowed relatively small amounts originally – $US12,000 or less – and have been making payments through the administration’s income-driven repayment plan, known as SAVE.

Others who will see relief include teachers, librarians, academics and public safety workers who have been making student loan payments for 10 years under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Another 65,000 borrowers enrolled in other income-driven repayment plans will receive adjustments reducing their debt, said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

So far, the Biden administration has forgiven $US153 billion in debt for 4.3 million borrowers.

“We’ve approved help for roughly 1 out of 10 of the 43 million Americans who have federal student loans,” Cardona told reporters.

Republicans in Congress characterise student debt relief as unfair to borrowers who struggled to pay off their student debt without assistance.

“You’re incentivising people to not pay back student loans, and at the same time penalising and forcing people who did to subsidise those who didn’t,” Republican congressman John Moolenaar, said during a hearing this week, in which Cardona testified about the Education Department’s budget request for next year.

“I don’t see it as unfair. I see it as, we’re fixing something that’s broken,” Cardona said. “We have better repayment plans now so we don’t have to be in the business of forgiving loans in the future.”

On Monday, Biden outlined a new attempt to wipe out student loan debt on a larger scale, beyond the scope of the programs he has been relying on so far.

The new plan would reduce the amount that 25 million borrowers still owe on their undergraduate and graduate loans. It would wipe away the entire amount for more than 4 million Americans. Altogether, White House officials said, 10 million borrowers would see debt relief of $US5000 or more.

That plan must undergo a public comment period that stretches through the northern summer. It also must survive legal challenges.

The original plan relied on a law called the HEROES Act, which the administration argued allowed the government to waive student debt during a national emergency like the COVID pandemic. The Supreme Court disagreed.

Biden administration officials said because the new approach is based on a different law – the Higher Education Act – it is more likely to survive the expected challenges.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/biden-wipes-away-another-11b-in-student-debt-20240413-p5fjjm.html

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A fifth grader from Washington State who wanted to start an interfaith prayer club at school because 'she felt alone' is speaking out after her request was denied

More hate. The hatred of Christians is almost an illness on the Left

Laura Toney, who is 11 and attends Creekside Elementary School in Sammamish, east of Seattle, had hoped to start the on-campus club to bring together students of different faith backgrounds to 'serve their community'.

But her pitch to start such a club was rejected despite a Pride Club being approved only weeks earlier.

'I wanted to start it because I felt kind of alone in the classroom and at school and so I realized I had some friends and I knew some other people that felt the same way and so I talked to them and I was just like you know what it would be a great idea to make a club where people could come together and do good in the community,' Laura told Fox News.

The school is now being accused of violating the young student's First Amendment's religious freedom protections by denying her request.

'I think that this is something that I am very passionate about. I wouldn't be here if I didn't really want to make this happen, if I didn't think that it would be a great opportunity for everyone,' Laura added.

Creekside already allows more than a dozen other 'non-religious clubs' to meet including a Pride Club, which is a 'safe space' for educating students and staff on 'LGBTQIA+ history and people,' according to the school's website.

Principal Amy Allison also allows a Green Team, focused on making the school 'more sustainable'. A Marimba Club, Chess Club and Student Council are all among other secular groups currently permitted.

Laura's mother, Kayla Toney, is associate counsel at First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit Christian conservative legal organization which often litigates in First Amendment cases on religion.

'The first amendment is clear, the free speech clause and the free exercise clause both protect Laura's ability to pray, to speak about her faith, to gather with other religious students and the law is clear,' Kayla Toney said during the same Fox interview.

'If the school allows at least one non-curricular club, no matter what the club is about, it has to allow a religious club and it's actually viewpoint discrimination to deny a religious club just because it's religious.'

Kayla Toney has put her beliefs down in a detailed letter, writing to the Issaquah School District on behalf of First Liberty Institute.

She wrote: 'Denying the formation of a religious student club while allowing other clubs violates the Constitution. School officials at Creekside Elementary are engaged in religious discrimination against an eleven-year-old girl who simply wants to pray, feel support from other religious friends, and do community service.'

When Laura and her mom met with Principal Allison in February, it was claimed all the funding for school clubs had already been allocated back in October, yet the pair allege how a Pride Club was launched just weeks before the meeting took place.

A spokesperson for the school has explained the prayer club's funding shortfall.

'Once the school year begins, the building budget is set and additional clubs are usually not added until the following school year,' the school stated, but Kayla does not buy the school's reasoning.

'She [Laura] even offered to do fundraisers if necessary. The Pride club again had started just a week before and another club is due to start pretty soon as well. So that excuse definitely did not make sense,' Kayla explained.

'The supreme court made it very clear that the First Amendment protects students and employees freedom and ability to live out their faith publicly, to pray, to exercise their faith. It's not something we have to hide as Americans because we have this strong protection of the first amendment.'

Kayla Toney states that the request to start a prayer club should be permitted no later than April 29, 2024.

'If we do not hear from you and receive those assurances by that time, we will proceed as our clients direct, likely pursuing all available legal remedies,' a letter to the principal concludes.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/fifth-grader-11-speaks-out-after-school-banned-her-from-starting-interfaith-prayer-club-due-to-lack-of-funding-just-weeks-after-approving-lgbtq-pride-group/ar-BB1lw67Z

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Australian students choose arts [humanities] degrees in droves despite huge rise in fees under Morrison government

I took an Arts degree and enjoyed it but whether the taxpayer should be funding it is another question

Owen Magee knew how high his student loan would be if he enrolled in an arts degree – he saw the headlines in 2020, when he was still in early adolescence.

But measures introduced by the former Morrison government that doubled the price of some degrees to incentivise students into other courses didn’t dissuade him, nor did recent cost-of-living increases.

“I decided I’d prefer doing something I’m interested in,” the 18-year-old says of his decision to study a media and arts degree at the University of New South Wales.

“A lot of young people are moving away from conventional ideas of education and the workforce to pursuing things we genuinely enjoy in life.

“We know what’s best for us – we’re willing to stand up and say ‘this is our future, we’re not going to allow our lives to be dictated’.”

Data provided to Guardian Australia shows Magee is not alone. Students are flocking to arts degrees in record numbers despite a 113% rise in student contributions for communications, humanities and society and culture degrees, implemented as part of the widely condemned Job-ready Graduates (JRG) scheme.

It’s equivalent to $16,323 a year, or about $50,000 for a three-year degree.

Despite the spike, Australia’s largest universities including UNSW, the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney and Monash have all experienced a jump in applications for arts degrees, leading to higher enrolments.

At the University of Melbourne, demand for its Bachelor of Arts degree is higher in 2024 than any time in the past five years.

It’s had a 14% surge in the number of first preferences for the bachelor program since 2022, while enrolments have also jumped since 2021, rising from 1,597 to 1,641 this year.

Monash University has seen first preferences for arts degrees rise by 11% since 2021. Enrolments jumped almost 2% this year, at the same rate as the University of Sydney, which has consistently grown its arts enrolments since the JRG reforms were introduced.

Prof Claire Annesley, dean of arts, design and architecture at UNSW, says there has been a “massive swell” of students choosing degrees in her faculty.

First preferences for arts degrees surged by 14% at UNSW this year, while the student course load was also up.

“I think they can see the future better than we can,” she says. “This generation of young people will be creating jobs you and I can’t imagine – and industry knows that as well.”

The latest graduate outcomes survey reported the largest increase in employment rates in the field of humanities (up from 81.7% in 2021 to 86.6% in 2022).

Median graduate salaries also jumped, sitting at $66,700 compared with sciences and mathematics at $66,000 and business and management $65,000.

In the unknown future of AI, Annesley says humanities offer skillsets that can’t be replaced by emerging technology. Complex societal problems – from the climate emergency to the pandemic – need effective communicators and policymakers.

“AI can reproduce what we already know, but creativity is an innately human skill,” she says.

“Right now we’re penalising people we need to be part of the business of innovation and core solutions. There’s an urgency here.”

The CEO of Universities Australia, Luke Sheehy, says JRG “failed” to encourage students into certain disciplines and instead shifted additional costs on to students and universities.

According to the University Admissions Centre (UAC), which manages applications for New South Wales universities, 21% of first preferences were directed to society and culture degrees in the most recent intake, with roughly the same number of offers provided.

The most popular courses were a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Double Law at UNSW.

The figures are nearly identical to 2021. Yet in the same period, first preferences to health, historically the most popular study area, have reduced (28% to 25%), as year 12 applicants have turned to arts degrees in higher numbers.

“We’ve already called and will continue to call on government to prioritise student support measures in the forthcoming budget,” he says.

The Universities Accord final report recommended JRG needed “urgent remediation”, adding it had “significantly and unfairly increased what students repay”.

The education minister, Jason Clare, told Guardian Australia the government would respond to the recommendations in the accord “shortly”.

But to Magee, the further into his course he gets, the more concerned about his economic future he becomes.

“Down the road, my student debt will take a lot of my income … it worries me,” he says.

“The government should be encouraging students to find paths they enjoy, not restricting it.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/14/students-choose-arts-degrees-in-droves-despite-huge-rise-in-fees-under-morrison-government

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